Living It Up In Thailand

We arrived at the Mandarin Oriental in Bangkok on a typical hot a muggy afternoon. Yeah, you could spend $2/night for a room to stay in Bangkok, but you get a big bang for your buck wherever you stay so we thought we’d live it up! Anywhere else in the world would probably cost you upwards of $1,000/ night to stay at the Mandarin Oriental, but I think we had a beautiful suit for the price of the Marriott in the US, so why not?

The breakfast by the river was my favorite part. I told you, when I’m on vacation, it’s pretty much cheat day every day, so here’s what I started with. A basket of buttery, flaky, sweet fresh baked goods. Yummmmy! Okay, okay, I kept it somewhat healthy too. The fruit in Thailand is ridiculous!

Of course while you’re in Thailand you have to experience a Thai massage, so we hopped on the river boat to take us across the water to the spa at The Mandarin Oriental. Again, you could pay a couple of bucks for this too, but the experience wouldn’t be the same. For the price we paid back home, was like living the life of a millionaire here.

I thought the city felt like a video game with all of multi-colored taxis.

We took another river boat cruise through the river to explore some of the sites and ended up at the Golden Palace. It was mystical.

Not every place was luxurious. Here was a typical house along the river.

Back at the Hotel, I had one of the best meals of my life! This bangkok gnocchi was so full of flavour, I had to recreate it when I got back home for one of my cheat days. You can find the recipe here.

Bangkok Gnocchi with Truffled Mushroom Ragu

Have you ever seen a squirrel on a leash? How about a miniature owl with a cowboy hat and bow-tie? Baby bunnies with tiny dresses?  If you don’t believe me… those are real animals in the photos below. This was a first for me too. Those were only some of the interesting things I saw at Chatachuk Market. Check it out…

After exploring the crazy city, we headed over to Phuket. Keeping with the getting a bigger bang for your buck, this was our room. We had our own private pool! Holy cow! During the day, we rented a boat and headed out to the spot where they filmed “The Beach” with Leonardo DeCaprio. Have you seen it? Maybe you’ll recognize the color of the water. I loved that movie. What did you think?

On the way back from our excursion, the kids were getting out of school and hopped on the bus to get home? See any differences from buses in North America? Safe hun? Seriously, I was driving behind them when I took this photo. It amazes me how different our cultures can be, and this is why I love to travel.

We headed back to the Bangkok and I called up an old friend of mine. She was my best friend in the 4th grade, and through the magic of Facebook, we reconnected. We grew up in Calgary AB, Canada together, and she has been living in Thailand for at least 5 years now, so I decided to connect with her and she recommended this Skybar restaurant that had the best view of the city.

I loved Thailand and would recommend going to anyone. One part I did not like was Patong. We went at night when the famously raucous nightlife scene features beer bars, go-go bars, nightclubs, massage parlors and transgender cabarets that overflow into the street. The energy made me feel nauseous. It was not my kind of place. I’ll go back to Thailand for sure, but will avoid Patong at all costs.

Have you ever been to Thailand? Would love to hear what you enjoyed, what you didn’t like and what you’d recommend for me next time or for my readers that are thinking of going. You can comment below. Here’s to Living It Up In Thailand!